LMS training video - Sentinels of Safety

LMS instructional video, Sentinels of Safety, outlining the absolute block signalling principle. Produced in 1938.

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

It's perhaps appropriate that I'm the first to post here as my father set up the *LMS* film unit and later the renowned *British Transport Film* film unit *(BTF).* I haven't seen all of the output of either unit and a lot is not readily available so I'm very grateful to find any of them here. 👌🥂

[@patstokes3615]

I just love all of this films on railroads and locomotives. It shows the ingenuity of humans before the age of computers that have taken ingenuity out of the human experience. People don't even have to think and believe me the older I get the lazier the human mind becomes.

[@BennettBrookRailway]

Glad you're enjoying them. There's plenty more to come.

[@johnkennedy5528]

In the early 1960s, the featured Coton Crossing was near where I lived in Tamworth Staffs. An over-road bridge made it redundant. It is the 4 line Trent Valley section. Sometimes the signalman would let us turn the massive spindle that opened the gates -hard work (especially if he teased us by leaving the brake on!) later version of what we see here. I rescued some of the discarded signal plates, Home, Distant etc. Excellent archive work BBR. John Kennedy

[@dieseldog4752]

These old videos still just amaze me by the amount of hard work it took to run a railroad in the days before electronics.

[@buzzofftoxicblog791]

There is something very resuring about the filming 🎥 and the commentary. 1960s slow way of life with tea. Signling bit like the rules of cricket 🏏 😀

[@kaasmeester5903]

Cricket has rules???

[@nikerailfanningttm9046]

I'm going to use this on my large layout that is OO and HO scale, its a hybrid of my state of Florida and the LNER, so you can see how complex this would be to operate a railroad thats half in the U.S.A and half in Great Britain. This means LNER Expresses will depart from Kings Cross and arrive at Pensacola FL for Saint Louis San Francisco passenger trains to pickup the passengers and take them to the other states. Goods trains from Britain depart from LNER's goods yard and arrive at Goulding Yard for SLSF freights to take the goods to other states. On occasion some American locomotives are loaned to the LNER for railway exhibitions, and LNER engines are loaned the USA for exhibitions. Its a unique railroad layout that I run, and its the only one like it! *SLSFLNER "Route Of The Flying Scotsman and Royal Freight!"*

[@Bramble19602847]

I always find these old transport films (and in particular those of the LMS) both instructive and a fascinating record of a vanished age. Poignant with regard to this film is that the first station the 'Lakes Express' travels through after leaving Euston is Harrow, site of the 1952 train crash which killed 112 people and injured many others. Can just make out the name from the inside of the signal box, and I think it's this signal box which can be seen on some of the Wikipedia photos. Plus one of the sister engines to the one featured was involved (I think).

[@chriswaring5565]

WHEN THE FARMER WENT AFTER THE COW ACROSS THE TRACK HE NEVER LOOKED TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY TRAINS COMMING COULD OF BEEN KILLED TOO

[@kaasmeester5903]

Dude at 3:22 looks like the type to tie maidens to the railroad tracks. What is the signal for that?

[@bryanthunderfootporter4436]

Hi there! Being from the US, I’m not quite understanding how your blocks/sections are laid out. Is the signal box at the start, in the middle of, or at the end of the section? Does the “starting” signal denote the condition of the section ahead? Does the “starting” signal mark the bondary line between sections (which if set to STOP cannot be passed)? “home” next to the SB is clear, but the locations and usages of “distant” and “starting” are still quite confusing to me.

[@beeble2003]

I'm not an expert, but this is what I've been able to glean. There are two types of signals: caution and danger. Stop signals must not be passed if they are on; caution signals warn that a later stop signal is on, giving enough time to brake. You don't stop at a caution. The general purpose of the three signals is that the distant is a caution signal for the home and starting signals, which are stop signals. The home signal is the block's main signal and the starting signal controls entry to the next block. As far as I can see, in simple cases such as a straight-through mainline with no crossovers, sidings, junctions etc., the starting signal would be omitted and the home would serve that role. Also, it was common for a box's distant signal to be mounted on the same post as the previous box's starter. If both of these features were combined, the driver would essentially see a single indication, albeit from two signal arms on the same post, which would be either "stop here" (home at danger, distant irrelevant), "proceed here but prepare to stop" (home at proceed, distant at caution) or "proceed here and your next signal is at proceed" (both at proceed). Each block runs from the last stop signal controlled by one box (the home or starter) to the first stop signal (home) of the next. So, apparently, any track between a box's home and its starter wasn't considered part of a block. Essentially, the home means "You can pass through the track controlled by this box" and the starter means "You can enter the next box's track." An example of a separate home and starter would be where a branch line diverges from the main line. The home signal would control entry to the branch and there would be two starters: one on the mainline and one on the branch, each controlling entry to the block controlled by the next signal box on that particular line. Consider a train on the mainline that wants to enter the branch, and that this requires crossing the other track of the mainline. If another train has been given permission to pass on that mainline track, our train will be held at the home signal to stop it crossing. Once that train has passed, the points will be set for our train and it will be given proceed at the home signal and enter the branch. If the next block of the branch is occupied, our train will be stopped at the branch starting signal, but it will be clear of the mainline so we can keep running trains there. At complicated junctions, there could actually be multiple home signals, each controlling entry to the next "step" of the junction. (E.g., imagine that our branch line actually splits in two straight away, or that there's a siding or similar.) Hopefully that makes some sense. There's much more detail at signalbox.org/block-system/

[@GonzBM]

Quite late, but here I've got a link to an Argentine Wikipedia article where it explains with detail how mechanical signals worked; I guess the fundamentals behind it are practically the same than those in Britain as railways in Argentina were laid mostly by the British. I suppose Google Translate will make a fine job: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%B1alizaci%C3%B3n_ferroviaria_argentina

[@Aengus42]

Those kids, fingers crossed, will be 95 now! That is, if they were 10 then.

[@MonkeySpecs301]

The train would have made the cow disappear.